Suspension of Belief

This topic came into my thoughts recently. Do you believe me? I'm suspending you!

I've concluded several things. One, there's such thing as the wrong use of suspension of belief. Two, there's such thing as the right way to use suspension of belief. Three, in fiction, suspension of belief is often downright necessary. And last, four, suspension of belief is a lost art form.

I blame reality TV shows for fooling today's audience into believing everything has to be 100% original and realistic, otherwise it's a bad story. This is false. If a fictional story was 100% realistic, it wouldn't be fiction anymore. Not to mention the most obvious point, TV and Literature are very different mediums. So there.

We need suspension of belief to fully craft a fictional story. It's what allows a hobbit to go there and back again. Jedi Knights possessing powers and tricks. Aliens to invade earth. Girl Gelflings to have wings. And frogs always know it's not easy being green.

Imagine a world without suspension of belief. There would be no Lord of the Rings. No Star Wars. No War of the Worlds. No Dark Crystal. And no *sobs* Muppets! *bawls*

Fantasy and Sci-fi as genres would cease to exist and it would be a very boring world. No good conversation happens without at least one Star Wars reference, for pity's sake.

Now, having said ALL of that, there's also shameless misuse of suspension of belief. I've seen novels where it was used as a manipulation tactic to fool the readers into not guessing the plot until the bitter end. Because, you know, readers aren't even supposed to know what the hell the story is about *rolls eyes* I've also seen more novels than I can count where the authors used suspension of belief as a shameless excuse to justify their ridiculous plot lines. It's rather sad.

Here's the simple truth to everything in fiction:

AUTHORS: IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE POSSIBLE, JUST PLAUSIBLE.

READERS: IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE REAL, YOU'RE JUST ALLOWED TO BELIEVE IT'S REAL.

And that, my friends, is all anyone needs to know.

P.S. I finished the next chapter ;)